Organizational culture comparisons of China and the United States using the Denison Organizational Culture Model

This study focused on several aspects of culture in 23 organizations headquartered in the People's Republic of China (China) and 23 matched organizations headquartered in the United States (U.S.) using the Denison Organizational Culture Survey/Model (DOCS). The DOCS is based on four organizational cultural traits: Involvement, Consistency, Adaptability, and Mission. Collectively these traits facilitate an organization's performance by integrating its internal resources and its adaptation to the external environment (Denison & Mishra, 1995). Among some researchers, the strength of the relationship between traits and effectiveness is believed to vary by country (Fey & Denison, 2003; Yilmaz & Ergun, 2008). Many DOCS studies have examined the link between culture and performance, yet little research exists comparing the economic giants, China and the U.S., in terms of their relative baseline level of cultural traits as expressed in the DOCS model.;A quantitative, non-experimental design was used to compare extant data for Chinese and U.S. organizations. Mean scores for the indices of Organizational Learning, Agreement, Goals and Objectives, and Empowerment for organizations in each country were compared statistically, as well as an analysis of the Adaptability and Consistency traits. Six organizational psychologists were also interviewed to inquire about their experience as consultants in these two countries.;The results suggest that organizations in the U.S. and China achieve roughly equivalent levels on traits measured by DOCS. These results confirm the view that DOCS cultural traits and indices are universal for organizations in countries with global economic impact (Denison et al., 2012). Cross-cultural organizational behaviors may be different depending on the country in which an organization resides, but more importantly, the behaviors have a similar impact on key organizational indices. Qualitative findings provided contextual understanding of the study's finding. One except to the general rule was in the Organizational Learning index, which showed that Chinese companies had a statistically higher average score than companies in the U.S.